Seven candidates were cut to four Tuesday night, as the field for Barnstable Town Council’s election on Nov. 5 began to take shape, with two precincts casting votes.

William Crocker and Deborah Converse took Precinct 6, which runs from Route 28 north to Race Lane and Lumbert Mill Road from the west to Old Stage Road to the east in Centerville.

They will square off for the Precinct 6 race in November.

John Norman and Donald Lynde won Precinct 12, which covers the western portion of Marstons Mills. They also will run against each other for the Precinct 12 Town Council seat in November.

Precinct 12 had 95 total votes, about three percent of total registered voters and Precinct 6 had a 19 percent voter turnout (509 votes), according to the town clerk’s office.

The two pairs will face off Nov. 5 for a four-year term serving their districts on the council.

After being “trounced,” Michael Hersey, 49, said partisan politics were in effect in the preliminary vote. “I hope the issues don’t shake out on party lines,” he said.

But he said Crocker and Converse deserved to be in the top two. The preliminary winners “couldn’t be more different,” Hersey said, and will “offer a clear choice for the voters.

Crocker is focused on public saftey, particularly when it comes to road upkeep and policework, he said. Keeping roads maintained for ambulances and other emergency vehicles is a public safety issue, Crocker said, but he also wants to keep the roads clean of crime.

A former broadcast journalist for local radio who now teaches at the Bristol County House of Correction, Crocker said the work of the Barnstable Police Department’s Street Crimes Unit should be supported. “It was a fairly quiet summer and I attribute it to them,” he said.

As for his opponent, Crocker is focused on his precinct, not Converse.

“I’m not running against anyone, I’m running for precinct 6,” he said.

Converse could not be reached for comment.

Incumbent John Norman, 48, led his precinct with 41 votes, enough to edge Donald Lynde (31 votes), 67, whom he will face in November.

Private road work is the issue on which Norman has received the most phone calls the last four years and it’s something he’ll continue to focus on, he said.

It’s an issue that is going to take “a lot of political will” to get something done, but it’s “not going to go away,” he said. Residents feel they pay enough taxes that roads – even private ones – should be maintained, Norman said.

Expansion of parking at the popular Marstons Mills Public Library and assisting with the redesign of the downtown area are other issues Norman brought up as priorities, he said.

As for his opponent, Norman encouraged Lynde to join other town boards and committees when he ran for, but did not win, a council seat four years ago.

“I told him to stay active, donate his time,” Norman said.

“I’m glad I did try it again,” Lynde said. Excited to make it past the primary this time, Lynde said his life experiences – both as a lawyer for the Army JAG Corps and as a 67-year-old – would be of value to the council.

While conceding he may not know the issues as well as his opponent, Lynde said the “old ways” of the council need to change.

“We need to have every one of the precinct councilors to be more engaged,” he said of issues he believes are not being discussed thoroughly enough.

But Lynde also believes the council needs to make decisions on issues and move on to other ones, he said. He pointed to the Marstons Mills Elementary School, which has been vacant for years, as an issue on which the council has dragged its feet.

There’s a time for discussion, but things can’t “be put off forever, either,” he said. “Are we just going to let it crumble?”

Since he is not originally from Marstons Mills, but chose it, Lynde feels he has much to give back to the community, he said. “It’s a very special town. I think I have a lot to share,” he said.